Runes

Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic

alphabets. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages Runic
before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialised ᚱᚢᚾᛟ
purposes thereafter. In addition to representing a sound value (a
phoneme), runes can be used to represent the concepts after which
they are named (ideographs). Examples of this are often referred to
as Begriffsrunen by academics. The Scandinavian variants are also
known as futhark or fuþark (derived from their first six letters of
the alphabet: F, U, Þ, A, R, and K); the Anglo-Saxon variant is
futhorc or fuþorc (due to sound-changes undergone in Old English
by the names of those six letters).

Runology is the scholastic study of the runic alphabets, runic

inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a
specialised branch of Germanic philology.

The earliest known runic inscriptions date from around 150 AD. Script type Alphabet
The characters were generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as Time Elder Futhark from
the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianisation, by period the 2nd century AD
approximately 700 AD in central Europe and 1100 AD in northern
Direction left-to-right,
Europe. However, the use of runes persisted for specialized
purposes in northern Europe. Until the early 20th century, runes boustrophedon
were used in rural Sweden for decorative purposes in Dalarna and Languages Germanic languages
on Runic calendars.
Related scripts
The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Futhark Parent Proto-Sinaitic
(around 150–800 AD), the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (400–1100 AD), systems
and the Younger Futhark (800–1100 AD). The Younger Futhark is Phoenician
divided further into the long-branch runes (also called Danish,
Greek alphabet
although they were also used in Norway, Sweden, and Frisia);
short-branch or Rök runes (also called Swedish-Norwegian, Old Italic
although they were also used in Denmark); and the stavlösa or
Hälsinge runes (staveless runes). The Younger Futhark developed Runic
further into the medieval runes (1100–1500 AD), and the
Dalecarlian runes (c. 1500–1800 AD). Child Younger Futhark,
systems Anglo-Saxon futhorc
Historically, the runic alphabet is a derivation of the Old Italic
ISO 15924
scripts of antiquity, with the addition of some innovations. Which
variant of the Old Italic branch in particular gave rise to the runes ISO 15924 Runr, 211 , Runic
is uncertain. Suggestions include Raetic, Venetic, Etruscan, or Old Unicode
Latin as candidates. At the time, all of these scripts had the same
Unicode Runic
angular letter shapes suited for epigraphy, which would become alias
characteristic of the runes.
Unicode U+16A0–U+16FF (htt
The process of transmission of the script is unknown. The oldest range ps://www.unicode.or
inscriptions are found in Denmark and northern Germany. A g/charts/PDF/U16A0.
"West Germanic hypothesis" suggests transmission via Elbe pdf)[1]
Germanic groups, while a "Gothic hypothesis" presumes transmission via East Germanic expansion.

Contents
Etymology
History and use
Origins
Early inscriptions
Magical or divinatory use
Medieval use
Runes in Eddic poetry
Runic alphabets
Elder Futhark (2nd to 8th centuries)
Anglo-Saxon runes (5th to 11th centuries)
"Marcomannic runes" (8th to 9th centuries)
Younger Futhark (9th to 11th centuries)
Medieval runes (12th to 15th centuries)
Dalecarlian runes (16th to 19th centuries)
Use as ideographs (Begriffsrunen)
Academic study
Body of inscriptions
Modern use
Esotericism
Germanic mysticism and Nazi Germany
Modern neopaganism and esotericism
Bluetooth
J. R. R. Tolkien and contemporary fiction
Unicode
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links

Etymology
The name stems from a Proto-Germanic form reconstructed as *rūnō (by, for example, Vladimir Orel),
which means 'secret, mystery; secret conversation; rune'. It is the source of Gothic runa ('secret, mystery,
counsel'), Old English rún ('whisper, mystery, secret, rune'), Old Saxon rūna ('secret counsel, confidential
talk'), Middle Dutch rūne ('id'), Old High German rūna ('secret, mystery'), and Old Norse rún ('secret,
mystery, rune'). The term is related to Proto-Celtic *rūna ('secret, magic'), but it is difficult to tell whether
they are cognate or if the early Germanic form reflects a borrowing from Celtic.[2][3] In modern Irish, rún
means 'secret', and the stem is also found in the same word in Welsh, cyf-rin-ach. According to another
theory, the Germanic term may come from the Indo-European root *reuə- ('dig').[4]

In early Germanic, a rune could also be referred to as a *rūna-stabaz, a compound of *rūnō and *stabaz
('staff; letter'). It is attested in Old Norse rúna-stafr, Old English rún-stæf, and Old High German rūn-
stab.[2] Other Germanic terms derived from *rūnō include *runōn ('counsellor'), *rūnjan and *ga-rūnjan
('secret, mystery'), *raunō ('trial, inquiry, experiment'), *hugi-rūnō ('secret of the mind, magical rune'), and
*halja-rūnō ('witch, sorceress'; literally '[possessor of the] Hel-secret').[5]

The Finnish word runo, meaning 'poem', is an early borrowing from Proto-Germanic,[6] and the source of
the term for rune, riimukirjain, meaning 'scratched letter'.[7] The root may also be found in the Baltic
languages, where Lithuanian runoti means both 'to cut (with a knife)' and 'to speak'.[8]

The Old English form rún survived into the early modern period as roun, which is now obsolete. The
modern English rune is a later formation that is partly derived from Late Latin runa, Old Norse rún, and
Danish rune.[3]

History and use

The runes were in use among the Germanic peoples from the 1st
or 2nd century AD.[a] This period corresponds to the late Common
Germanic stage linguistically, with a continuum of dialects not yet
clearly separated into the three branches of later centuries: North
Germanic, West Germanic, and East Germanic.

No distinction is made in surviving runic inscriptions between long

and short vowels, although such a distinction was certainly present
phonologically in the spoken languages of the time. Similarly,
there are no signs for labiovelars in the Elder Futhark (such signs
were introduced in both the Anglo-Saxon futhorc and the Gothic
alphabet as variants of p; see peorð.)

Origins

The formation of the Elder Futhark was complete by the early 5th An inscription using cipher runes, the
century, with the Kylver Stone being the first evidence of the Elder Futhark, and the Younger
futhark ordering as well as of the p rune. Futhark, on the 9th-century Rök
runestone in Sweden
Specifically, the Rhaetic alphabet of Bolzano is often advanced as
a candidate for the origin of the runes, with only five Elder Futhark
runes (ᛖ e, ᛇ ï, ᛃ j, ᛜ ŋ, ᛈ p) having no counterpart in the Bolzano alphabet.[10] Scandinavian scholars tend
to favor derivation from the Latin alphabet itself over Raetic candidates.[11][12][13] A "North Etruscan"
thesis is supported by the inscription on the Negau helmet dating to the 2nd century BC.[14] This is in a
northern Etruscan alphabet but features a Germanic name, Harigast. Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante suggest
that runes derived from some North Italic alphabet, specifically Venetic: but since Romans conquered
Veneto after 200 BC, and then the Latin alphabet became prominent and Venetic culture diminished in
importance, Germanic people could have adopted the Venetic alphabet within the 3rd century BC or even
earlier.[15]
The angular shapes of the runes are shared with most
contemporary alphabets of the period that were used for carving in
wood or stone. There are no horizontal strokes: when carving a
message on a flat staff or stick, it would be along the grain, thus
both less legible and more likely to split the wood.[16] This
characteristic is also shared by other alphabets, such as the early
form of the Latin alphabet used for the Duenos inscription, but it is
not universal, especially among early runic inscriptions, which
frequently have variant rune shapes, including horizontal strokes.
Runic manuscripts (that is written rather than carved runes, such as A Younger Futhark inscription on the
Codex Runicus) also show horizontal strokes. 12th-century Vaksala Runestone in
Sweden
The "West Germanic hypothesis" speculates on an introduction by
West Germanic tribes. This hypothesis is based on claiming that
the earliest inscriptions of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, found in bogs and graves around Jutland (the Vimose
inscriptions), exhibit word endings that, being interpreted by Scandinavian scholars to be Proto-Norse, are
considered unresolved and long having been the subject of discussion. Inscriptions such as wagnija, niþijo,
and harija are supposed to represent tribe names, tentatively proposed to be Vangiones, the Nidensis, and
the Harii tribes located in the Rhineland.[17] Since names ending in -io reflect Germanic morphology
representing the Latin ending -ius, and the suffix -inius was reflected by Germanic -inio-,[18][19] the
question of the problematic ending -ijo in masculine Proto-Norse would be resolved by assuming Roman
(Rhineland) influences, while "the awkward ending -a of laguþewa[20] may be solved by accepting the fact
that the name may indeed be West Germanic".[17] In the early Runic period, differences between Germanic
languages are generally presumed to be small. Another theory presumes a Northwest Germanic unity
preceding the emergence of Proto-Norse proper from roughly the 5th century.[b][c] An alternative
suggestion explaining the impossibility of classifying the earliest inscriptions as either North or West
Germanic is forwarded by È. A. Makaev, who presumes a "special runic koine", an early "literary
Germanic" employed by the entire Late Common Germanic linguistic community after the separation of
Gothic (2nd to 5th centuries), while the spoken dialects may already have been more diverse.[22]

Early inscriptions

Runic inscriptions from the 400-year period 150–550 AD are

described as "Period I". These inscriptions are generally in Elder
Futhark, but the set of letter shapes and bindrunes employed is far
from standardized. Notably the j, s, and ŋ runes undergo
considerable modifications, while others, such as p and ï, remain
unattested altogether prior to the first full futhark row on the
Kylver Stone (c. 400 AD).

Artifacts such as spear heads or shield mounts have been found

that bear runic marking that may be dated to 200 AD, as evidenced
by artifacts found across northern Europe in Schleswig (North
Germany), Fyn, Sjælland, Jylland (Denmark), and Skåne
(Sweden). Earlier—but less reliable—artifacts have been found in Ring of Pietroassa (c. 250–400 AD)
Meldorf, Süderdithmarschen, northern Germany; these include by Henri Trenk, 1875
brooches and combs found in graves, most notably the Meldorf
fibula, and are supposed to have the earliest markings resembling
runic inscriptions.
Magical or divinatory use

The stanza 157 of Hávamál attribute to runes the power to bring

that which is dead back to life. In this stanza, Odin recounts a
spell:

Þat kann ek it tolfta, I know a twelfth one

ef ek sé á tré uppi
váfa virgilná,:
svá ek ríst ok í rúnum
fák,
at sá gengr gumi
ok mælir við mik.[23]
if I see up in a tree,
a dangling corpse in a
noose,
I can so carve and colour the
runes,
that the man walks Bracteate DR BR42 bearing the
and talks with me.[24] inscription Alu

The earliest runic inscriptions found on artifacts give the name of

either the craftsman or the proprietor, or sometimes, remain a
linguistic mystery. Due to this, it is possible that the early runes
were not used so much as a simple writing system, but rather as
magical signs to be used for charms. Although some say the runes
were used for divination, there is no direct evidence to suggest
they were ever used in this way. The name rune itself, taken to
mean "secret, something hidden", seems to indicate that
knowledge of the runes was originally considered esoteric, or
restricted to an elite. The 6th-century Björketorp Runestone warns
in Proto-Norse using the word rune in both senses:

Haidzruno runu, falahak haidera, ginnarunaz.

Arageu haeramalausz uti az. Weladaude, sa'z þat
barutz. Uþarba spa. I, master of the runes(?) conceal
here runes of power. Incessantly (plagued by)
maleficence, (doomed to) insidious death (is) he who
breaks this (monument). I prophesy destruction / An illustration of the Gummarp
prophecy of destruction.[25] Runestone (500–700 AD) from
Blekinge, Sweden

The same curse and use of the word, rune, is also found on the
Stentoften Runestone. There also are some inscriptions suggesting a medieval belief in the magical
significance of runes, such as the Franks Casket (AD 700) panel.

Charm words, such as auja, laþu, laukaʀ, and most commonly, alu,[26] appear on a number of Migration
period Elder Futhark inscriptions as well as variants and abbreviations of them. Much speculation and study
has been produced on the potential meaning of these inscriptions. Rhyming groups appear on some early
bracteates that also may be magical in purpose, such as salusalu and luwatuwa. Further, an inscription on
the Gummarp Runestone (500–700 AD) gives a cryptic inscription describing the use of three runic letters
followed by the Elder Futhark f-rune written three times in succession.[27]

Nevertheless, it has proven difficult to find unambiguous traces of runic "oracles": although Norse literature
is full of references to runes, it nowhere contains specific instructions on divination. There are at least three
sources on divination with rather vague descriptions that may, or may not, refer to runes: Tacitus's 1st-
century Germania, Snorri Sturluson's 13th-century Ynglinga saga,
and Rimbert's 9th-century Vita Ansgari.

The first source, Tacitus's Germania,[28] describes "signs" chosen

in groups of three and cut from "a nut-bearing tree", although the
runes do not seem to have been in use at the time of Tacitus'
writings. A second source is the Ynglinga saga, where Granmar,
the king of Södermanland, goes to Uppsala for the blót. There, the
"chips" fell in a way that said that he would not live long (Féll
honum þá svo spánn sem hann mundi eigi lengi lifa). These
Closeup of the runic inscription found
"chips", however, are easily explainable as a blótspánn (sacrificial
on the 6th- or 7th-century Björketorp
chip), which was "marked, possibly with sacrificial blood, shaken, Runestone located in Blekinge,
and thrown down like dice, and their positive or negative Sweden
significance then decided."[29]

The third source is Rimbert's Vita Ansgari, where there are three
accounts of what some believe to be the use of runes for divination, but Rimbert calls it "drawing lots".
One of these accounts is the description of how a renegade Swedish king, Anund Uppsale, first brings a
Danish fleet to Birka, but then changes his mind and asks the Danes to "draw lots". According to the story,
this "drawing of lots" was quite informative, telling them that attacking Birka would bring bad luck and that
they should attack a Slavic town instead. The tool in the "drawing of lots", however, is easily explainable
as a hlautlein (lot-twig), which according to Foote and Wilson[30] would be used in the same manner as a
blótspánn.

The lack of extensive knowledge on historical use of the runes has not stopped modern authors from
extrapolating entire systems of divination from what few specifics exist, usually loosely based on the
reconstructed names of the runes and additional outside influence.

A recent study of runic magic suggests that runes were used to create magical objects such as amulets,[31]
but not in a way that would indicate that runic writing was any more inherently magical, than were other
writing systems such as Latin or Greek.

Medieval use

As Proto-Germanic evolved into its later language groups, the words assigned to the runes and the sounds
represented by the runes themselves began to diverge somewhat and each culture would create new runes,
rename or rearrange its rune names slightly, or stop using obsolete runes completely, to accommodate these
changes. Thus, the Anglo-Saxon futhorc has several runes peculiar to itself to represent diphthongs unique
to (or at least prevalent in) the Anglo-Saxon dialect.

Some later runic finds are on monuments (runestones), which often contain solemn inscriptions about
people who died or performed great deeds. For a long time it was presumed that this kind of grand
inscription was the primary use of runes, and that their use was associated with a certain societal class of
rune carvers.

In the mid-1950s, however, approximately 670 inscriptions, known as the Bryggen inscriptions, were
found in Bergen.[32] These inscriptions were made on wood and bone, often in the shape of sticks of
various sizes, and contained inscriptions of an everyday nature—ranging from name tags, prayers (often in
Latin), personal messages, business letters, and expressions of affection, to bawdy phrases of a profane and
sometimes even of a vulgar nature. Following this find, it is nowadays commonly presumed that, at least in
late use, Runic was a widespread and common writing system.
 In the later Middle Ages,
runes also were used in
the clog almanacs
(sometimes called Runic
staff, Prim, or
Scandinavian calendar) of
Sweden and Estonia. The
authenticity of some
monuments bearing Runic
inscriptions found in 17th-century clog almanac collected
Northern America is by Sir Hans Sloane. Now in the
disputed; most of them collection of the British Museum
have been dated to
modern times.

Runes in Eddic poetry

Codex Runicus, a vellum manuscript In Norse mythology, the runic alphabet is attested to a divine
from approximately 1300 AD origin (Old Norse: reginkunnr). This is attested as early as on the
containing one of the oldest and best Noleby Runestone from c. 600 AD that reads Runo fahi
preserved texts of the Scanian Law, raginakundo toj[e'k]a..., meaning "I prepare the suitable divine
is written entirely in runes.
rune..."[33] and in an attestation from the 9th century on the
Sparlösa Runestone, which reads Ok rað runaʀ þaʀ
rægi[n]kundu, meaning "And interpret the runes of divine
origin". [34] In the Poetic Edda poem Hávamál, Stanza 80, the runes also are described as reginkunnr:

Þat er þá reynt, That is now proved,

er þú at rúnum spyrr what you asked of the runes,
inum reginkunnum, of the potent famous ones,
þeim er gerðu ginnregin which the great gods made,
ok fáði fimbulþulr, and the mighty sage stained,
þá hefir hann bazt, ef hann þegir.[23] that it is best for him if he stays silent.[35]

The poem Hávamál explains that the originator of the runes was the major deity, Odin. Stanza 138
describes how Odin received the runes through self-sacrifice:

Veit ek at ek hekk vindga meiði a I know that I hung on a windy tree

netr allar nío, nine long nights,
geiri vndaþr ok gefinn Oðni, wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,
sialfr sialfom mer, myself to myself,
a þeim meiþi, er mangi veit, hvers hann on that tree of which no man knows from where
af rótom renn. its roots run.[36]

In stanza 139, Odin continues:

 Við hleifi mik seldo ne viþ hornigi, No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn,
nysta ek niþr, downwards I peered;
nam ek vp rvnar, I took up the runes,
opandi nam, screaming I took them,
fell ek aptr þaðan. then I fell back from there.[36]

In the Poetic Edda poem Rígsþula another origin is related of how the runic alphabet became known to
humans. The poem relates how Ríg, identified as Heimdall in the introduction, sired three sons—Thrall
(slave), Churl (freeman), and Jarl (noble)—by human women. These sons became the ancestors of the three
classes of humans indicated by their names. When Jarl reached an age when he began to handle weapons
and show other signs of nobility, Ríg returned and, having claimed him as a son, taught him the runes. In
1555, the exiled Swedish archbishop Olaus Magnus recorded a tradition that a man named Kettil Runske
had stolen three rune staffs from Odin and learned the runes and their magic.

Runic alphabets

Elder Futhark (2nd to 8th centuries)

The Elder Futhark, used for writing Proto-Norse, consists of 24

runes that often are arranged in three groups of eight; each group is
referred to as an Ætt (Old Norse, meaning 'clan, group'). The
earliest known sequential listing of the full set of 24 runes dates to
approximately AD 400 and is found on the Kylver Stone in
Gotland, Sweden.

Most probably each rune had a name, chosen to represent the Detail of the Elder Futhark inscription
sound of the rune itself. The names are, however, not directly on a replica of one of the 5th-century
attested for the Elder Futhark themselves. Germanic philologists AD Golden Horns of Gallehus found
reconstruct names in Proto-Germanic based on the names given for on Jutland, now Denmark
the runes in the later alphabets attested in the rune poems and the
linked names of the letters of the Gothic alphabet. For example, the
letter /a/ was named from the runic letter called Ansuz. An asterisk before the rune names means that they
are unattested reconstructions. The 24 Elder Futhark runes are:[37]
 Proto-Germanic
Rune UCS Transliteration IPA Meaning
name

ᚠ f /f/ *fehu "cattle; wealth"

ᚢ u /u(ː)/ ?*ūruz "aurochs" (or *ûram "water/slag"?)

"Thurs" (see Jötunn) or *þunraz ("the god

ᚦ þ /θ/, /ð/ ?*þurisaz
Thunraz")

ᚨ a /a(ː)/ *ansuz "god"

ᚱ r /r/ *raidō "ride, journey"

ᚲ k (c) /k/ ?*kaunan "ulcer"? (or *kenaz "torch"?)

ᚷ g /ɡ/ *gebō "gift"

ᚹ w /w/ *wunjō "joy"

ᚺᚻ h /h/ *hagalaz "hail" (the precipitation)

ᚾ n /n/ *naudiz "need"

ᛁ i /i(ː)/ *īsaz "ice"

ᛃ j /j/ *jēra- "year, good year, harvest"

/
ᛇ ï (æ) *ī(h)waz "yew-tree"
æː/[38]

ᛈ p /p/ ?*perþ- meaning unknown; possibly "pear-tree".

ᛉ z /z/ ?*algiz "elk" (or "protection, defence"[39])

ᛊᛋ s /s/ *sōwilō "Sun"

ᛏ t /t/ *tīwaz "the god Tiwaz"

ᛒ b /b/ *berkanan "birch"

ᛖ e /e(ː)/ *ehwaz "horse"

ᛗ m /m/ *mannaz "man"

ᛚ l /l/ *laguz "water, lake" (or possibly *laukaz "leek")

ᛜᛝ ŋ /ŋ/ *ingwaz "the god Ingwaz"

ᛟ o /o(ː)/ *ōþila-/*ōþala- "heritage, estate, possession"

ᛞ d /d/ *dagaz "day"

Anglo-Saxon runes (5th to 11th centuries)

The futhorc (sometimes written "fuþorc") are an extended

alphabet, consisting of 29, and later 33 characters. It was probably
used from the 5th century onwards. There are competing theories
as to the origins of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. One theory proposes
that it was developed in Frisia and later spread to England, while
another holds that Scandinavians introduced runes to England,
where the futhorc was modified and exported to Frisia. Some
examples of futhorc inscriptions are found on the Thames
scramasax, in the Vienna Codex, in Cotton Otho B.x (Anglo-
Saxon rune poem) and on the Ruthwell Cross.
The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
The Anglo-Saxon rune poem gives the following characters and
names: ᚠ feoh, ᚢ ur, ᚦ þorn, ᚩ os, ᚱ rad, ᚳ cen, ᚷ gyfu, ᚹ ƿynn, ᚻ
hægl, ᚾ nyd, ᛁ is, ᛄ ger, ᛇ eoh, ᛈ peorð, ᛉ eolh, ᛋ sigel, ᛏ tir, ᛒ
beorc, ᛖ eh, ᛗ mann, ᛚ lagu, ᛝ ing, ᛟ œthel, ᛞ dæg, ᚪ ac, ᚫ æsc, ᚣ yr, ᛡ ior, ᛠ ear.

Extra runes attested to outside of the rune poem include ᛢ cweorð, ᛣ calc, ᚸ gar, and ᛥ stan. Some of these
additional letters have only been found in manuscripts. Feoh, þorn, and sigel stood for [f], [þ], and [s] in
most environments, but voiced to [v], [ð], and [z] between vowels or voiced consonants. Gyfu and wynn
stood for the letters yogh and wynn, which became [g] and [w] in Middle English.

"Marcomannic runes" (8th to 9th centuries)

A runic alphabet consisting of a mixture of Elder

Futhark with Anglo-Saxon futhorc is recorded in a
treatise called De Inventione Litterarum, ascribed to
Hrabanus Maurus and preserved in 8th- and 9th-
century manuscripts mainly from the southern part
of the Carolingian Empire (Alemannia, Bavaria).
The manuscript text attributes the runes to the
Marcomannic runes
Marcomanni, quos nos Nordmannos vocamus, and
hence traditionally, the alphabet is called
"Marcomannic runes", but it has no connection with
the Marcomanni, and rather is an attempt of Carolingian scholars to represent all letters of the Latin
alphabets with runic equivalents.

Wilhelm Grimm discussed these runes in 1821.[40]

Younger Futhark (9th to 11th centuries)

The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian

Futhark, is a reduced form of the Elder Futhark,
consisting of only 16 characters. The reduction
correlates with phonetic changes when Proto-Norse
evolved into Old Norse. They are found in Scandinavia
and Viking Age settlements abroad, probably in use The Younger Futhark: long-branch runes and
from the 9th century onward. They are divided into short-twig runes
long-branch (Danish) and short-twig (Swedish and
Norwegian) runes. The difference between the two
 versions is a matter of controversy. A general opinion is that the
difference between them was functional (viz., the long-branch
runes were used for documentation on stone, whereas the short-
twig runes were in everyday use for private or official messages on
wood).

While also featuring a runic

inscription detailing the erection of a Medieval runes (12th to 15th centuries)
bridge for a loved one, the 11th-
century Ramsung carving is a Sigurd In the Middle Ages, the Younger Futhark in Scandinavia was
stone that depicts the legend of expanded, so that it once more contained one sign for each
Sigurd. phoneme of the Old Norse language. Dotted variants of voiceless
signs were introduced to denote the corresponding voiced
consonants, or vice versa, voiceless
variants of voiced consonants, and
several new runes also appeared for
vowel sounds. Inscriptions in
medieval Scandinavian runes show
a large number of variant rune
Medieval runes
forms, and some letters, such as s, c,
and z often were used
interchangeably.[41][42]

Medieval runes were in use until the 15th century. Of the total
number of Norwegian runic inscriptions preserved today, most are
medieval runes. Notably, more than 600 inscriptions using these
runes have been discovered in Bergen since the 1950s, mostly on
wooden sticks (the so-called Bryggen inscriptions). This indicates
that runes were in common use side by side with the Latin
alphabet for several centuries. Indeed, some of the medieval runic
inscriptions are written in Latin.

Dalecarlian runes (16th to 19th centuries)

According to Carl-Gustav Werner, "In the isolated province of

A church bell from Saleby,
Västergötland, Sweden, containing a
runic inscription from 1228 AD
Dalarna in Sweden a mix of runes and Latin letters developed."[43]
The Dalecarlian runes came into use in the early 16th century and
remained in some use up to the 20th century.[44] Some discussion
remains on whether their use was an unbroken tradition throughout
this period or whether people in the 19th and 20th centuries
learned runes from books written on the subject. The character
inventory was used mainly for transcribing Elfdalian.

Use as ideographs (Begriffsrunen)

In addition to their historic use as letters in the runic alphabets, runes were also used to represent their
names (ideographs). Such instances are sometimes referred to by way of the modern German loan word
Begriffsrunen, meaning 'concept-runes' (singular Begriffsrune). The criteria for the use of Begriffsrunen and
the frequency of their use by ancient rune-writers remains controversial.[45] The topic of Begriffsrunen has
produced much discussion among runologists. Runologist Klaus Düwel has proposed a two-point criteria
for the identification of runes as
Begriffsrunen: A graphic argument
and a semantic argument.[45]

Examples of Begriffsrunen (or

potential Begriffsrunen) include the
following:
Dalecarlian runes

Inscription Date Script Language Rune Notes

In this inscription, several runes repeat in a
2nd to Several
Lindholm Elder Proto- sentence to form an unknown meaning. Various
4th different
amulet Futhark Norse scholars have proposed that these runes represent
centuries runes
repeated Begriffsrunen.
This object was cut by thieves, damaging one of
the runes. The identity of this rune was debated by
Ring of 250–400 Elder Odal
Gothic scholars until a photograph of it was republished
Pietroassa AD Futhark (rune)
that, according to runologist Bernard Mees, clearly
indicates it to have been Odal (rune).[46]

Stentoften 500–700 Elder Proto- This inscription is commonly cited as containing a

Jēran
Runestone AD Futhark Norse Begriffsrune.[45]

In addition to the instances above, several different runes occurs as ideographs in Old English and Old
Norse manuscripts (featuring Anglo-Saxon runes and Younger Futhark runes respectively). Runologist
Thomas Birkett summarizes these numerous instances as follows:

The maðr rune is found regularly in Icelandic manuscripts, the fé rune somewhat less
frequently, whilst in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts the runes mon, dæg, wynn and eþel are all used
on occasion. These are some of the most functional of the rune names, occurring relatively
often in written language, unlike the elusive peorð, for example, which would be of little or no
use as an abbreviation because of its rarity. The practicality of using an abbreviation for a
familiar noun such as ‘man’ is demonstrated clearly in the Old Norse poem Hávamál, where
the maðr rune is used a total of forty-five times, saving a significant amount of space and effort
(Codex Regius: 5-14)[47]

Academic study
The modern study of runes was initiated during the Renaissance, by Johannes Bureus (1568–1652). Bureus
viewed runes as holy or magical in a kabbalistic sense. The study of runes was continued by Olof Rudbeck
Sr (1630–1702) and presented in his collection Atlantica. Anders Celsius (1701–1744) further extended the
science of runes and travelled around the whole of Sweden to examine the runstenar. From the "golden
age of philology" in the 19th century, runology formed a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.

Body of inscriptions
The largest group of surviving Runic inscription are Viking Age Younger Futhark runestones, commonly
found in Denmark and Sweden.[49] Another large group are medieval runes, most commonly found on
small objects, often wooden sticks. The largest concentration of runic inscriptions are the Bryggen
inscriptions found in Bergen, more than 650 in total. Elder Futhark
inscriptions number around 350, about 260 of which are from
Scandinavia, of which about half are on bracteates. Anglo-Saxon
futhorc inscriptions number around 100 items.

Modern use
Runic alphabets have seen numerous uses since the 18th-century
Viking revival, in Scandinavian Romantic nationalism
(Gothicismus) and Germanic occultism in the 19th century, and in
The Vimose Comb from the island of
the context of the Fantasy genre and of Germanic Neopaganism in Funen, Denmark, features the
the 20th century. earliest known runic inscription (AD
150 to 200) and simply reads, ᚺᚨᚱᛃᚨ
"Harja", a male name.[48]
Esotericism

Germanic mysticism and Nazi Germany

The pioneer of the Armanist branch of Ariosophy and one of the

more important figures in esotericism in Germany and Austria in
the late 19th and early 20th century was the Austrian occultist,
mysticist, and völkisch author, Guido von List. In 1908, he
published in Das Geheimnis der Runen ("The Secret of the
Runes") a set of eighteen so-called, "Armanen runes", based on
the Younger Futhark and runes of List's own introduction, which
allegedly were revealed to him in a state of temporary blindness
after cataract operations on both eyes in 1902. The use of runes in
Germanic mysticism, notably List's "Armanen runes" and the Runic script on an 1886 gravestone
derived "Wiligut runes" by Karl Maria Wiligut, played a certain in Parkend, England
role in Nazi symbolism. The fascination with runic symbolism was
mostly limited to Heinrich Himmler, and not shared by the other
members of the Nazi top echelon. Consequently, runes appear mostly in
insignia associated with the Schutzstaffel ("SS"), the paramilitary
organization led by Himmler. Wiligut is credited with designing the SS-
Ehrenring, which displays a number of "Wiligut runes".

Modern neopaganism and esotericism

From 1933, Schutzstaffel unit
Runes are popular in Germanic neopaganism, and to a lesser extent in insignia displayed two sig
other forms of Neopaganism and New Age esotericism. Various systems runes, which derive from the
Armanen Futhark, invented in
of Runic divination have been published since the 1980s, notably by
the 19th century by völkisch
Ralph Blum (1982), Stephen Flowers (1984, onward), Stephan Grundy
author Guido von List
(1990), and Nigel Pennick (1995).

The Uthark theory originally was proposed as a scholarly hypothesis by

Sigurd Agrell in 1932. In 2002, Swedish esotericist Thomas Karlsson popularized this "Uthark" runic row,
which he refers to as, the "night side of the runes", in the context of modern occultism.

Bluetooth
The Bluetooth logo is the combination of two runes of the Younger Futhark, ᚼ hagall and ᛒ bjarkan,
equivalent to the letters H and B, that are the initials of Harald Blåtand's name (Bluetooth in English), who
was a king of Denmark from the Viking Age.

J. R. R. Tolkien and contemporary fiction

In J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit (1937), the Anglo-Saxon

runes are used on a map to emphasize its connection to the Bluetooth logo with the initials of
Harald Blåtand.
Dwarves. They also were used in the initial drafts of The Lord of
the Rings, but later were replaced by the Cirth rune-like alphabet
invented by Tolkien, used to write the language of the Dwarves,
Khuzdul. Following Tolkien, historical and fictional runes appear commonly in modern popular culture,
particularly in fantasy literature, but also in other forms of media such as video games (for example the
1992 video game Heimdall used it as "magical symbols" associated with unnatural forces) and role-playing
games, such as Metagaming's The Fantasy Trip, which used rune-based cipher for clues and jokes
throughout its publications.

Unicode
Runic alphabets were added to the Unicode Standard in
September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0.

The Unicode block for Runic alphabets is U+16A0–U+16FF. It is

intended to encode the letters of the Elder Futhark, the Anglo-
Frisian runes, and the Younger Futhark long-branch and short-twig
(but not the staveless) variants, in cases where cognate letters have
the same shape resorting to "unification".

The block as of Unicode 3.0 contained 81 symbols: 75 runic letters

(U+16A0–U+16EA), 3 punctuation marks (Runic Single
Punctuation U+16EB ᛫, Runic Multiple Punctuation U+16EC ᛬
and Runic Cross Punctuation U+16ED ᛭), and three runic symbols
that are used in early modern runic calendar staves ("Golden
number Runes", Runic Arlaug Symbol U+16EE ᛮ, Runic
Tvimadur Symbol U+16EF ᛯ, Runic Belgthor Symbol U+16F0
ᛰ). As of Unicode 7.0 (2014), eight characters were added, three
attributed to J. R. R. Tolkien's mode of writing Modern English in
Runic Steel Stamps, Elder Futhark
Anglo-Saxon runes, and five for the "cryptogrammic" vowel
symbols used in an inscription on the Franks Casket.
 Runic[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U16A0.pdf) (PDF)

  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

U+16Ax ᚠ ᚡ ᚢ ᚣ ᚤ ᚥ ᚦ ᚧ ᚨ ᚩ ᚪ ᚫ ᚬ ᚭ ᚮ ᚯ

U+16Bx ᚰ ᚱ ᚲ ᚳ ᚴ ᚵ ᚶ ᚷ ᚸ ᚹ ᚺ ᚻ ᚼ ᚽ ᚾ ᚿ

U+16Cx ᛀ ᛁ ᛂ ᛃ ᛄ ᛅ ᛆ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛋ ᛌ ᛍ ᛎ ᛏ

U+16Dx ᛐ ᛑ ᛒ ᛓ ᛔ ᛕ ᛖ ᛗ ᛘ ᛙ ᛚ ᛛ ᛜ ᛝ ᛞ ᛟ

U+16Ex ᛠ ᛡ ᛢ ᛣ ᛤ ᛥ ᛦ ᛧ ᛨ ᛩ ᛪ ᛫ ᛬ ᛭ ᛮ ᛯ

U+16Fx ᛰ ᛱ ᛲ ᛳ ᛴ ᛵ ᛶ ᛷ ᛸ
Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 14.0

2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also
Bautil
Gothic runic inscriptions
Runic inscription in the Netherlands
Pentimal system of numerals
Runiform (disambiguation) for "rune-like" but believed-unrelated scripts described as
"runes"
Hunnic language - possible script of 3rd & 4th century Hunn Empire
Old Turkic script or Turkic runes
Old Hungarian script or Hungarian runes, descended from Old Turkic runes
Siglas poveiras
Runic magic
Sveriges runinskrifter

Notes
1. The oldest known runic inscription dates to around AD 150 and is found on a comb
discovered in the bog of Vimose, Funen, Denmark.[9] The inscription reads harja; a disputed
candidate for a 1st-century inscription is on the Meldorf fibula in southern Jutland.
2. Penzl & Hall 1994a assume a period of "Proto-Nordic-Westgermanic" unity down to the 5th
century and the Gallehus horns inscription.[21]
3. The division between Northwest Germanic and Proto-Norse is somewhat arbitrary.[22]

References
 1. Runic (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U16A0.pdf) (PDF) (chart), Unicode.
2. Orel 2003, p. 310.
3. Oxford English Dictionary Online, s.v. † roun, n. and rune, n.2.
4. Friedrich Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. Walter de Gruyter,
Berlin/New York 2001, ISBN 978-3-11-017473-1
5. Orel 2003, pp. 155, 190, 310.
6. Häkkinen, Kaisa. Nykysuomen etymologinen sanakirja
7. Nykysuomen sanakirja: "riimu"
8. "Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language" (http://www.lkz.lt/en/dze.htm). LKZ. Retrieved
2010-04-13.
9. Stoklund 2003, p. 173.
10. Mees 2000.
11. Odenstedt 1990.
12. Williams 1996.
13. Dictionary of the Middle Ages (https://web.archive.org/web/20070623082749/http://ariadne.u
io.no/runenews/odmarune.htm) (under preparation), Oxford University Press, archived from
the original (http://ariadne.uio.no/runenews/odmarune.htm) on 2007-06-23.
14. Markey 2001.
15. G. Bonfante, L. Bonfante, The Etruscan Language p. 119 (https://books.google.it/books?id=
VWGN6e5Rzf8C&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=runes+from+venetic+alphabet&source=bl&o
ts=OeW0SOpgNo&sig=MPh3Dia9tqPSdKyLUiADT3dGguI&hl=it&sa=X&ei=pBSIVYTzNan
NygPEiL8o&ved=0CDwQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=runes%20from%20venetic%20alphabet
&f=false)
16. Rix, Robert W. (2011). "Runes and Roman: Germanic Literacy and the Significance of Runic
Writing". Textual Cultures. 6: 114–144. doi:10.2979/textcult.6.1.114 (https://doi.org/10.2979%
2Ftextcult.6.1.114).
17. Looijenga 1997.
18. Weisgerber 1968, pp. 135, 392ff.
19. Weisgerber 1966–1967, p. 207.
20. Syrett 1994, pp. 44ff.
21. Penzl & Hall 1994b, p. 186.
22. Antonsen 1965, p. 36.
23. "Hávamál", Norrøne Tekster og Kvad (http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508160024/
http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/havamal.php), Norway, archived from the original
(http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/havamal.php) on 2007-05-08.
24. Larrington 1999, p. 37.
25. "DR 360", Rundata (entry) (2.0 for Windows ed.).
26. MacLeod & Mees 2006, pp. 100–01.
27. Page 2005, p. 31.
28. Tacitus, Germania, 10 (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Tac.+Ger.+10&fromdo
c=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0083)
29. Foote & Wilson 1970.
30. Foote & Wilson 1970, p. 401.
31. MacLeod & Mees 2006.
32. William, Gareth (2007). West over Sea: Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and
Settlement Before 1300 (https://books.google.com/books?id=U-2vCQAAQBAJ&q=%22rune-
inscribed+sticks+from+bryggen%22&pg=PA473). Brill Publishers. p. 473.
ISBN 9789047421214. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
33. "Vg 63", Rundata (entry) (2.0 for Windows ed.).
34. "Vg 119", Rundata (entry) (2.0 for Windows ed.).
35. Larrington 1999, p. 25.
36. Larrington 1999, p. 34.
37. Page 2005, pp. 8, 15–16.
38. also rendered /ɛː/, see Proto-Germanic phonology
39. Ralph Warren, Victor Elliott, Runes: an introduction, Manchester University Press ND, 1980,
51-53.
40. Grimm, William (1821), "18", Ueber deutsche Runen [Concerning German runes] (in
German), pp. 149–59.
41. Jacobsen & Moltke 1942, p. vii.
42. Werner 2004, p. 20.
43. Werner 2004, p. 7.
44. Brix, Lise (May 21, 2015). "Isolated people in Sweden only stopped using runes 100 years
ago" (http://sciencenordic.com/isolated-people-sweden-only-stopped-using-runes-100-years
-ago). ScienceNordic.
45. See disscussion in for example Düwel 2004: 123-124 and Looijenga 2003: 17.
46. MacLeod & Mees 2006: 173.
47. Birkett 2010: 1.
48. Looijenga 2003: 160.
49. de Gruyter, Walter (2002). The Nordic Languages, Volume 1 (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=PBKxhq2p0PgC&q=%22Younger+Futhark+were+used+more%22&pg=PA700).
p. 700. ISBN 9783110197051. Retrieved 2018-05-22.

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Edda, Oxford World's Classics, translated
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Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions.
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North Sea and on the Continent AD 150–
700 (http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/
arts/1997/j.h.looijenga/) (dissertation),
Groningen University.
MacLeod, Mindy; Mees, Bernard (2006),
Runic Amulets and Magic Objects (https://b
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Helmets: Negau A and B", Journal of Indo-
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1994a), "The Cambridge history of the
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External links
Nytt om Runer (http://www.khm.uio.no/english/research/publications/nytt-om-runer/)
(runology journal), NO: UIO.
Bibliography of Runic Scholarship (https://web.archive.org/web/20080905182709/http://ww
w.galinngrund.org/Runes-Bibliography.htm), Galinn grund, archived from the original (http://
www.galinngrund.org/Runes-Bibliography.htm) on 2008-09-05.
Gamla Runinskrifter (http://www.christerhamp.se/runor/gamla/), SE: Christer hamp.
Gosse, Edmund (1911). "Runes, Runic Language and Inscriptions" (https://en.wikisource.or
g/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Runes,_Runic_Language_and_Inscriptions).
Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).
Smith, Nicole; Beale, Gareth; Richards, Julian; Scholma-Mason, Nela (2018), "Maeshowe:
The Application of RTI to Norse Runes (Data Paper)" (http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue47/8/i
ndex.html), Internet Archaeology (47), doi:10.11141/ia.47.8 (https://doi.org/10.11141%2Fia.4
7.8), S2CID 165773006 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:165773006).
Old Norse Online (https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/norol) by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan
Slocum, free online lessons at the Linguistics Research Center (https://liberalarts.utexas.ed
u/lrc) at the University of Texas at Austin, contains a lesson on runic inscriptions (https://lrc.l
a.utexas.edu/eieol/norol/100)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Runes&oldid=1053707627"

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